James Franco reached out to Lilo

London - James Franco has "tried to help" Lindsay Lohan through her troubles.

The 34-year-old actor met the 'Liz & Dick' star - who has endured several stints in rehab and numerous legal problems - when he was directing her in a promo video for REM's hit 'Blue' in February 2011, but he hasn't spoken to her for a "long time" since she started getting into "more trouble".

He said: "Lindsay and I had reconnected at that time. I had been writing some poems about the Chateau Marmont and one or two of the poems involved Lindsay.

"I haven't talked to her in a long time because it seemed like she was getting into some more trouble. I've tried to help her."

James is sympathetic to the 26-year-old actress - who recently had her probation revoked after it was claimed she lied to police - and believes one reason why she often finds herself in trouble is because of all the hype surrounding her life and constant offers for her to write a tell-all book about her experiences.

He added to MTV: "I think one of the reasons it's so hard is when she gets in trouble, she gets all this attention and I'm sure she gets book offers.

"Like she goes to jail, and instead of feeling like, 'I really hit a low place', she'll get a crazy offer for her jail memoir." - Bang Showbiz

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